Part 1 (OPEN TO PUBLIC)
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REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND PLANNING
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TO THE LEAD MEMBER FOR HOUSING
ON 29TH MARCH 2007
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TITLE:
BRIEFING PAPER
STATUS 2006
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RECOMMENDATIONS:
That the Briefing Paper is noted by the Lead Member for Housing.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The third Standard Tenant Satisfaction Survey (STATUS) was carried out in
Autumn 2006 to satisfy the triennial statutory duty for Salford Council to
measure the satisfaction of tenants in its properties. The survey also provides
the method for reporting on the Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) 74
and 75 as required by the Audit Commission.
In brief the findings of STATUS 2006 indicates that tenants are satisfied with
the housing services provided by New Prospect, and levels of satisfaction
have risen since the previous survey in 2003. Overall satisfaction for most
questions is typically 70% plus and improving.
The improvement in BVPIs 74 and 75 was very encouraging, especially the
dramatic increase for BVPI 75, which suggests the extensive housing options
consultation, the Opening Doors Compact and general tenant involvement
have been a great success.
Key findings:
A sample size of 3,500 (split equally over the 5 New Prospect housing
groups) was agreed in order to ensure that the statutory 625 returns required
was surpassed. A healthy 1,404 responses were received for analysis,
equating to a response rate of just over 40%. The BVPI findings were as
follows:
 BVPI 74 tenant satisfaction with the overall service provided by New
Prospect is 78.1%, an improvement on the 2003 figure of 72.2% in 2003.
 BVPI 75 tenant satisfaction with opportunities for participation in
management and decision making in relation to housing services
provided by New Prospect is 70.9%, which is well above the 45.4% recorded
in the 2003 survey. BME satisfaction was for this indicator above the overall
level at 73.2%.
 It is required that these indicators are then split between BME and nonBME groups, and for BVPI 74 the BME satisfaction response was lower than
the overall level at 68.8%.
Following the completion of the STATUS a full report which details all of the
findings has been written and agreed for distribution by internal stakeholders
in February 2007.
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BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
STATUS 2006 Report (including sample of correspondence letters and
questionnaire as appendices)
2003 Tenant Satisfaction Survey
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ASSESSMENT OF RISK: Low
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SOURCE OF FUNDING: Not applicable
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LEGAL IMPLICATIONS: Not applicable
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: None
COMMUNICATION IMPLICATIONS: None
VALUE FOR MONEY IMPLICATIONS: None
CLIENT IMPLICATIONS: This report has been completed jointly by Salford
City Council (Strategy, Policy and Partnerships) and New Prospect Housing
Limited.
CLIENT OFFICER: None
PROPERTY: None
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HUMAN RESOURCES: None
CONTACT OFFICER:
Mick Coogan 0161 793 2871
michael.coogan@salford.gov.uk
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WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S): All
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KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
Housing Strategy 2007-10
Housing Revenue Account Business Plan 2005-2035
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DETAILS:
1. 0 Background
1.1 STATUS is a standard questionnaire used by Local Authorities and
Housing Association to determine levels satisfaction amongst tenants who live
in their housing stock. This is the third survey for the authority of its kind, and
is required every 3 years. The Housing Consortium on behalf of Salford City
Council carried out the first two studies in 2000 and 2003, the 2006 survey
was conducted internally.
1.2 Findings from this survey enable us to:

Identify both good and poor areas of service delivery

Highlight high and low levels of resident satisfaction
 Measure changes in tenant satisfaction over time and asses continuing
trends from 2003 to 2006

Identify priority service areas for improvement
1.3 The survey was conducted by post with the original questionnaires (see
appendix E) being sent out with a covering explanation letter and pre-paid self
addressed envelope in late September 2006. Two reminders were sent out at
two week intervals to non-respondents with further questionnaires in order to
maximise the response rate, and all major holidays were avoided. An
incentive of a prize draw for shopping vouchers to the value of £125 was
added to the survey.
1.4 A sample size of 3,500 was chosen, made up evenly of the five New
Prospect housing groups of Salford (Eccles & Irlam, Worsley & Little Hulton,
Salford North, Salford South and Swinton), and within these areas the sample
was selected randomly. The minimum overall target for responses needed
was 625. The response rate of 1,404 more than surpassed the required 625
and was just over 40% (21% in 2003 1,495/7,100).
2.0 Detail
2.1 Housing Profiles
From the survey key housing profile related facts were gained such as the
following:
 3.5% of the respondents are from BME households;
 37% of respondents have been a council tenant for 21 years or more, and
53.6% have been a council tenant for at least 11 years;
 25.1% have been in their current home for at least 21 years with 43.1%
having been resident for at least 11 years;
 50.2% had at least one person aged 60 or over;
 13% of respondents are 1 parent families, 5.5% are 2 parent families
2.2 Satisfaction with Accommodation
83.1% of tenants were satisfied with their accommodation compared to 81.6%
3 years ago. However there were slight declines in both the people very
satisfied and dissatisfied alike.
Tenants from the Salford South housing group area were most satisfied with
their accommodation at 87.8%, with Swinton tenants having the least
proportion satisfied at 80.7%
The number of respondents who consider they have too few rooms has risen
from 16.1% to 18.5% since 2003 (a 14.9% difference), however this was not
reflected in the rise in household sizes recorded by the survey from 1.83 to
1.85 over the same period (1.6% difference).
The percentage of residents satisfied with the condition of their property fell
between 2003 and 2006 from 78.6% to 75.9%, and there was a more
significant fall in the number of people very satisfied with their property from
30.6% to 24.8%, which are findings that need further consideration.
2.3 Satisfaction with Neighbourhood
Satisfaction with neighbourhood remained constant with just over 7 out of 10
tenants satisfied (70.6%) with their neighbourhood, plus there was also an
increase in the number of people very satisfied from 30.4% to 32.9%.
As with accommodation satisfaction, when neighbourhood satisfaction is
looked at by housing group, Salford South had the highest proportion of
satisfied residents at 74.7% with Swinton having the lowest at 68.8%.
All neighbourhood problems have significantly decreased since 2003
according to the percentage of tenants who rated them as such. Litter and
rubbish remained the highest-ranking problem with 70.8% of respondents
considering it as such, and vandalism continued to rank second with 64.8% of
tenants perceiving it as a problem. Just under half of the tenants think dogs,
other crime, graffiti and noise from neighbours are problems, whilst between 3
and 4 out of ten believe noise from traffic, drug dealing and problems with
neighbours are a nuisance. Fewer than 2 in 10 people (17.8%) think
vandalism to the home is a problem whilst only 10% see racial harassment as
a problem. Whilst all problems reduced there still remains a lot of work to do
to reduce them further in the next 3 years.
2.4 Satisfaction with Landlord Services provided by New Prospect
78.2% of tenants indicated satisfaction with the overall Landlord Services New
Prospect provides with 32.4% being very satisfied (28% in 2003). Satisfaction
with landlord services is highest in the Worsley & Little Hulton housing group
area at 81.5% and lowest in Eccles & Irlam 73.2%.
73.9% consider their landlord services to be good value for money (71.4% in
2003), with 75.2% expressing satisfaction with repairs and maintenance
(66.8% in 2003).
Repairs remain to be the main reason 76.6% of tenants contacted New
Prospect, and after contacting their landlord 66.6% of respondents were
satisfied with the final outcome (53.9% 2003).
2.5 Communication and Participation
81.8% of respondents considered New Prospect to be good at keeping them
informed of things which may affect them as a tenant (71.8% in 2003). Over 3
in 10 tenants (60.1%) expressed satisfaction with opportunities provided by
New Prospect for participation in management and decision making (45.4% in
2003).
54.8% of tenants said they were aware of Tenant Participation Compacts, this
was only 32.8% in 2003. Of the tenants who are aware of the Compact
64.4% are satisfied with the agreement (60.2% in 2003).
2.6 Improving Services
When asked to rate their top 3 services (in no particular order) the top two
services were Repairs and Maintenance with 28.5% and Overall Quality of
Home with 21.7%. However when tenants were asked to indicate which
services needed the most improvement, Overall Quality of Home was
considered the most in need service with 78.5% of tenants rating at least
some improvement needed. Repairs and Maintenance was rated the highest
for ‘Much Improvement Needed’ category with 23.9% and third highest for any
improvement needed with 68%. Due to the high importance to tenants of
these services, coupled with the high percentage of tenants who think there is
need for improvement, the findings make these two service areas the clear
priorities for future improvements.
3.0 Conclusion and Recommendations
3.1 Overall the findings of STATUS 2006 are positive and indicate that
tenants are satisfied with the housing services provided by New Prospect, and
levels of satisfaction have risen since the previous survey in 2003. For some
areas of services these gains in satisfaction levels have been considerable.
The only service that has not risen in terms of satisfaction is the physical
accommodation, which has seen a very slight decline. The quality of
accommodation is rated as the second most important service by tenants, but
is also the service with the most room for improvement. This must be a, if not
the, priority highlighted by this survey, and needs to be addressed. The
Decent Homes standard which is due to be met by 2010 has pre-empted
improvements in the condition of council owned accommodation, and
changes in the management and ownership of stock are in the process of
being made in order to gain the extra funding needed to achieve and surpass
the national standard. With this work already in progress a marked
improvement is hoped for regarding the question relating to satisfaction with
accommodation in 2009.
3.2 Maintenance and repairs is the most important service in the opinion of
tenants and is the main reason why the majority of respondents have any
contact with their landlord. Although satisfaction levels for this service are
high and have improved well since 2003, there is still considerable room for
improvement according to the respondents, and due to its importance, must
also be of high priority to improve standards in this area.
3.3 The improvement in both overall BVPIs was very encouraging, especially
the dramatic increase for BVPI 75 which suggests the housing options
consultation, the Opening Doors Compact and the range of other
opportunities for tenant involvement have been a great success. As well as
satisfaction with landlord services rising, so did value for money, and it was
also clear to see that tenants in receipt of no Housing Benefit were likely to be
less satisfied litter/rubbish on the street and vandalism continued to be the
two standout neighbourhood problems, but again there are drastic decreases
in the numbers of people who think these to be serious problems. There was
a marginal increase in satisfaction with neighbourhood, and when various
aspects of satisfaction were looked at and broken down by area and housing
group, it was clear tenants were more satisfied in the ‘Central Salford’ area,
Salford South in particular, and less satisfied in the ‘West Salford’ area,
especially Swinton.
3.4 Overall satisfaction for most questions is typically 70% plus and improving
since the previous survey in 2003, and there is no reason this can not improve
even further whoever may provide the landlord services in the future. The two
major priorities of accommodation quality and repairs & maintenance have the
opportunity to be addressed straight away with the pending change in stock
management/ownership to meet the Decent Homes Standard and presents a
challenge for the proposed new housing organisations. It may be possible
that more customer involvement has led to higher satisfaction in certain
locations as opposed to others, and this must be looked into to enable good
practice to be transferred between areas allowing the lowest areas of
satisfaction to be raised up to the highest.
Unfortunatley it was not possible to measure the improvement in satisfaction
by area after this survey as there was no data available at area/group levels
from the previous surveys, however changes in satisfaction by area/group will
be measurable in 2009. The whole STATUS exercise was consistent with the
two previous surveys, and all things being equal the changes are mainly
positive. When asked about every service a large majority of tenants are
satisfied, but when asked about improvements to services the majority still
indicate that improvements are needed. Therefore improvements are needed
on top of the sustained good work, the affects of which will be measurable in
2009.